Bethel - Making Disciples

Reshaping a Broken Culture of Marriage

Two Sundays ago, the Campaign for Marriage kicked off with a video describing how a broken marriage culture has seeped into the American Church  - and Bethel Church in particular – and broken many of the marriages of God’s people.

Our culture has lost the meaning of marriage laid out in the Bible. As Christians, we have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the meaning of marriage. We see symptoms of this in broken marriages. We also see symptoms in flippant or negative attitudes of singles and dating couples toward marriage.

The Bible teaches that marriage is a central component of God’s creation (Gen 1:26-28; 2:18-25). The union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church (Eph 5:32-33). The Manhattan Declaration, a multi-denominational statement of faith regarding life, marriage, and religious freedom, describes some of the differences between the way our culture views marriage and the way marriage is defined in the Bible. A few of these are outlined below.

*See Tim Keller’s book The Meaning of Marriage, especially Ch. 3 for more on this idea.

**See The Manhattan Declaration for a defense of this assertion.

Our culture believes… The truth is…
 

  • Marriage is all about romance and self-actualization.
 

  • Marriage is a covenant commitment to love and serve one another as you grow in Christ (Eph 5:25-28; Gen 2:23-24).
 

  • Promiscuity and infidelity are glamorous.
 

  • There is profound beauty, mystery, and holiness in faithful marital love (Eph 5:22-33).
 

  • Marriage is just a “piece of paper” that doesn’t add anything to a couples’ love for each other.
 

  • The covenant written on that piece of paper is what strengthens love and makes it possible for a couple to make it through the rough periods.*
 

  • My actions and views of marriage are my business. They don’t affect other people.
 

  • Marriage is a social institution with far-reaching ramifications: the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. **


 

Leave a Reply

    follow me on Twitter

    Contact Us

    Bethel Church - Richland
    600 Shockley Road,
    Richland, WA 99352

    Ph:(509) 628-0150
    Fax:(509) 628-8651